“Alas, alas you great city, you might city Babylon for in a single hour your judgment has come.”
– Revelation 18:10
Before I read Revelation 18:10 today, I just wanna pause and praise God. This is actually episode 200 of this Pray the Word podcast and I am just so thankful for God’s word and for the way it leads us to pray in a way that I hope is serving and helping you as we pray according to his word and we experience just this wonder of communion with God as He speaks to us and it causes us to cry out to Him. Welcome to the 200th episode of Pray the Word.
That is an incredible picture. Babylon is in Revelation 18 this picture of worldly ways and worldly empires and worldly kingdoms that seem so powerful and seem to thrive on ungodliness, on turning away from God, on indulging and the power of this world and the pleasures of this world and the pursuits of this world. You see, just picture, just mighty kingdoms built up and all of them represented in this picture of Babylon throughout the history of the world. And, Revelation 18:10 says, “Alas, alas you great city, you might city Babylon in a single hour your judgment has come.” The whole picture is all it takes is a minute. Like in an hour all those kingdoms fall. How quickly this world and all that is in it will one day be judged.
In an instant, God will bring to an end the kingdoms of this world. Therefore, we put all our trust in Him.
Revelation 18:10 Leads Us to Pray for the Nations
Empires that have taken centuries to build and thrive in all these ways, just like that, gone. Judged before the Holy God of the universe. So this verse causes us to pray in all kinds of ways, but just to pray oh God, help us to view powers, nations, kingdoms in this world rightly in right perspective. Help us not to be allured by them to think that they ultimately have any power, they will ultimately have any say. We know that in an instant they will be gone. In an instance they will be judged by you. That you alone are powerful. That you alone are mighty. You alone oh God are great.
No leader in the world today or in the history of the world is great. They’re all judged in an instant. No kingdom in the world, no nation, no empire, no rule or reign is ultimate but you. They all fall apart. They all burn up in the end before you. You alone are God. You alone are the judge and we put our trust in you. We don’t put in our trust in any nation, any kingdom, any ruler, any leader in this world, no we put all our in trust in you.
This Verse Reminds Us to Put Our Trust in God
We pray that you help us not to put our trust in the empty pleasures, the empty power, the empty pursuits, the empty ways of this world. God help us to keep our eyes fixed on you as our King even as we long for your judgment to come. In Jesus’ name we praise you. In Jesus’ name we pray to you the God who’s judgment and kingdom and rule will ultimately reign. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
